Evan had looked up and smiled adorably. I know ‘watt’ you mean, he winked. Laughing at his own stupid pun, he turned to saunter back into the house.
To his back Meg had yelled, Evan Winter! That was awful! But laughed despite herself when he jumped up and kicked his heels in response.
Wow, I miss that kid, she mused as she turned the knob right and listened to the system awaken with a hum.
Soon. You’ll see everyone very soon, she reassured herself under her breath.
Back inside the house, Meg started a slow, meticulous sweep for any signs of audio or visual surveillance. She searched each room for anything that looked out of place. She checked every light fixture, under every table and shelf and then looked for any wires that seemed to go nowhere.
Nothing.
Having just checked under the living room sofas, Meg sat sprawled on the dusty hardwood floor and looked around the room.
I’m missing it. Dang, I wish Evan and Alik were here to help me, she thought as she chewed on her bottom lip.
She took a slow deep breath and rolled her head trying to loosen the tension in her shoulders.
What am I missing? She pushed herself. I can’t sense anyone observing me, but that could just mean the surveillance is automated and not actively monitored.
She kept an internal dialogue going as she went, careful not to speak her thoughts out loud just in case there were ears listening or recording.
Maybe I should just hunker down and wait for them.
She closed her eyes and searched for Creed’s signature. Once found, she gathered images of his location. He was walking down the aisle of an airplane cabin. Ever the sentry, he had been checking everybody, including the pilots. Through his eyes, Meg saw the smiling faces of her family as they looked up to talk with him as he passed each row. She saw him hurry to his seat so he could concentrate on their connection. She sent him images of the room in which she sat to show him she had made it home. Satisfied her family was safe and on their way, Meg sighed happily.
Before releasing the connection, she lingered on a private memory sending sparks across the miles right to Creed’s heart. She felt his signature burst with love and pulse like a heartbeat in response. Reluctantly, she let go of the connection, reassured they would see each other soon.
Meg’s stomach growled angrily as though it had been trying to get her attention for hours. Thinking back, it had been.
She stood, dusted off her jeans and made her way into the kitchen. The fridge would have to be cleaned out, though now that the power was back on, it sat humming—obliviously cooling the spoiled food. Knowing she had a long evening of chores ahead, she walked directly to the pantry and found her dinner in a can of tuna and another of peaches.
She forced the tuna down, sans mayo or bread or even a fresh sleeve of crackers just because she knew she needed the protein. The peaches she savored straight from the can. She reminded herself to slow down and live in the moment as the sweet syrup dripped from the peach half dangling over her opened mouth and plopped on her tongue.
As she chewed deliberately, she looked out the window above the kitchen sink, admiring the yellows and oranges of the sun hanging low in the sky.
Beautiful, she thought.
She moved to pull up the wooden blinds so her view would be unobstructed. A smattering of dust particles flew into the air, glistening and dancing in the light. She waved her hand in front of her face, shooing the allergens away, and moved to lean back against the countertop. Another sweet, fleshy peach half made it to her mouth and she let her dark eyes absently follow the beam of light as it spilled into the room. It had slipped across the kitchen table and onto the wall behind it where her mother had hung a simple wood-framed, beveled glass mirror.
She stopped chewing.
Something wasn’t right.
Slowly she set the half-eaten can on the counter and approached the mirror at an angle to not block the beam of light
The shadow of a surveillance camera peered back at her.
Oh, shit. Her internal reaction at finally locating what she’d been looking for was terror, but she held her body relaxed and feigned primping her curls in the mirror before slowly walking out of its view. She flattened herself against the wall and peeked around the kitchen doorway into the living room and looked around. She’d never noticed how many mirrors adorned the walls of her home until that moment. She was torn between making a run for it to escape the cold mechanical eyes or racing to the garage to get a baseball bat and smash the hell out of every reflective surface. She inhaled a shaky breath and forced herself to think.
Get it together, Meg. What did you expect? You knew there would be surveillance planted in the house. Why freak about it now?